Sunday, May 29, 2011

MCM Expo London Comic Con 2011

On Saturday I attended by first ever MCM Expo London Comic Con at London Excel. Before you asked, no, I wasn't a cosplayer - but I do admit part of my motivation for waking up at 6am in order to get to East London before 9am was largely due to wanting to photograph cosplayers.

Me and Jenni got there about 15 mins before the gates open. Half an hour later, Motoko, our twitter pal, arrived advance tickets in hand. We joined the queue at one of the North Event halls which resembles a massive hanger. It took us about 30 minutes before we got in - but not before being handed a 'swag bag'. Mine contained a .hack/SIGN DVD, complete with an action figurine of Mimiru.

The halls were awashed with stalls selling both licensed and unlicensed merchandises. Comic books, mangas, films, plush toys, retro video games, action figures etc - it was a geek's paradise. Nintendo, Tecmo Koei, Gamespot UK, Warner Brothers Games, THQ, Capcom and Atari had booths set up to showcase upcoming new video games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Dynasty Warriors whatever, Gears of War 3, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (just how many times can Capcom re-release this game?) and a couple more. Creative Assembly also hosted a Q&A session regarding the history of the Total War series as did Square-Enix/Eidos for the upcoming Deus Ex: Human Revolution video game.

Unsurprisingly the event was awash with cosplayers. I have to admit that I found myself admiring the dedication of many of these cosplayers. The attention to detail on their costumes - most of the time home made, were simply mind blowing. Not only that, but many of the cosplayers were in character as well. The 501st Legion UK Garrison is worth a mention due to their authentic-looking Star Wars costumes. I was very impressed by the cosplay quality of Iron Man, Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile, Ghost from Call of Duty and the apes from The Planet of the Apes. Even the Duke made an appearance!

The highlight of the day was the Futurama cast panel. I have been following the Futurama series since the inception and it was a joy to see and hear Billy West (Philip J Fry, Professor Fransworth, Zapp Brannigan, Dr. Zoidberg), Phil Lamarr (Hermes Conrad, Preacherbot), Lauren Tom (Amy Wong, Inez Wong) and Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker, Morbo, Lrrr, Calculon) talk about the voice production and how some of the voices of the characters they play came to be. Richard Nixon's Head 'aroo', for example was inspired by Billy West's childhood experience from watching Nixon debate with John F. Kennedy where he (Billy West) feared Nixon would turn into a wear wolf.

We also caught the panel of Simon's Cat, where the creator of Simon Tofield explained the inspiration that led him to create this popular cartoon series. A Q&A session with Craig Busch (of The Lion Man TV series) was followed by a preview of his new reality TV wildlife series surrounding the conservation of wildlife in Africa.

MCM Expo was a great fun first experience. I do have a number of complaints. First, the acoustics at the MCM Expo Theatre was horrible. You could hardly hear a thing, and even the cast of Futurama had trouble hearing themselves. Then there's the money spinning machinery. £15 for a ticket to obtain a single autograph from the stars? Plain ridiculous.